


Your Mother Yellow Hessonite

by Afanficman



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Gems, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Everyone raises Steven, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Garnet will always be a part of the Crystal Gems, Gems get money by working, Military Greg, More Crystal Gems survived the Corruption blast, Multi, OOC Gems, Only Pearl knows the truth, The Gem war still happened, Yellow Diamond is Steven’s mom, Yellow Steven, mom swap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-01-22 16:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21304937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Afanficman/pseuds/Afanficman
Summary: Steven Hessonite Universe is a reserved, confident, and determined child. He the top of his class at the MMA studio just outside of town, despite only being a thirteen years old. Although, his life is full of weird circumstances that deviate from a normal life. Such as Steven has never met his mother. He told constantly by others that he is the spitting image of her. The others being the crystal gems, the friends his mother left behind when she gave up her physical form to give birth to him. Oh, did he forget to mention that his mother was a sentient humanoid gemstone that is made of light. Who fought to free the earth from her evil overlords. Yeah, that’s definitely something that gets glossed over when he talks about himself.This story will be about how I think Yellow Diamond would have been if she was the one to be given the earth and started the revolution. Pink Diamond got a colony, but in another star system. Much earlier so she didn’t try to throw a fit and claim earth as her first colony.
Relationships: Garnet/Herself, Past Yellow Diamonds Pearl/Blue Diamond’s Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire (Steven Universe), Steven Universe/Original Character(s), Steven Universe/Original Female Character(s), Yellow Diamond/Greg Universe
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This will be OOC. I decided to put my own spin on things in this story. Not everything will be the same.

Your name is Steven Hessonite Universe and you have just finished a normal day of your life. The sun sits on the edge of the western horizon as you exit the MMA studio you regularly attend. The class ended about an hour ago, so most of the other students have already left for the day. You however decided to stay late and practice some more. That’s why you’re at the top of your class and likely to win the upcoming tournament in a few months. Anyway you’re getting off track, it’s time for you to grab your bike and go home. Home being the beach house you share with the crystal gems. Who are the crystal gems you ask, well they’re a group of humanoid beings of light from another planet who fight to protect the earth from monsters. There’s Pearl, Garnet, Bee, Shadow, Peridot, and Zoisite. Your mother, Yellow Hessonite used to be their leader. But she had to stop being the leader when she gave birth to you. As it turns out, the process of giving birth as a gem leads to dematerialization of the body. She died for you to be born which is depressing, but at least she’ll always be with you since you quite literally have her gem. A squared bright neon yellow hessonite gemstone lays permanently attached to your upper torso, right where your mother had her’s. You guess it’s one of the many inherited traits you received from her. Some of your father’s traits are present in your appearance too, but it’s mixed with your mother’s. You having slightly wavy dirty blonde hair and vibrant amber colored eyes are a few of the aforementioned mixed traits. There are many more features that you can link to either of your parents, but you have much more important things to do right now than waste time pondering over this useless topic. You quickly hope on your bike and start pedaling. You have to be home in a certain amount of time, otherwise Pearl will start panicking and immediately launch a nationwide search for the fifth time in your life. She the most impatient of the six crystal gems. Shadow and Bee are little more patient but would inevitably question the whole town on your whereabouts after ten minutes. Peridot would try tracking your phone. Garnet, well Garnet would most definitely be sitting on the big sofa in the living. Probably reading one of her romance novels because her future vision showed her when you would walk through the door. Then there’s Zoisite, she wouldn’t know what’s going on since she was stuck in her room all day deciding on this year’s holiday decorations. She would wait a few hours for you to get back, but will immediately hop on her small wooden helicopter to join the search. All of them are overprotective too say the least. But that’s to be expected, you’re their beloved former leader’s organic son and they’re immortal aliens who have been around ever since the literal Stone Age. And as such they want to protect you from everything that can cause a minor scrape. Which can be overbearing at times. You continue to mull over everything as the beach statue in the distance gets closer. 

Upon getting onto the small beachside town, coincidentally named Beach City, you make a quick stop by the Big Donut. It’s the only convenience store close by, and you have a craving for a Cookie Cat ice cream sandwich. Some say that they are the most childish thing to ever exist, but they bring you joy so you don’t listen them. You open the store’s door to see Sadie, one of the few employees standing behind the register ringing up another customer. Her blonde hair looks more disheveled than usual today. ”Thank you for shopping at the Big Donut, where our appreciation for you is the only thing bigger than our donuts. Come again.” She sounds a little tense when she repeats the mandatory company motto. “Ughh! Oh, hey Steven.” She finally notices you standing next to coffee machine. “Hey Sadie are you ok? I’ve noticed that you don’t look so good right now.” Sadie’s face begins to loosen a little. “I’m fine, it’s just that my mom has been stressing me out with softball tryouts at school. Thanks for asking.” You give her a small smile and turn to the small fridge that the holds cat themed confections you came for. To your dismay, it’s empty. “What! Where are the cookie cats?” Lars one of the other employees steps out from the back with a box in his hands. “Lars, where are the Cookie Cats I need...” You quickly realize how needy and immature you sound right now. Time to readjust yourself. “Sorry about that, can you please tell me where I can find more cookie cats.” Lars sighs. “They stopped making them. Those baby sandwiches couldn’t compete with Lion Lickers. Now move, I have stocking to do.” Lars stacks bags of various chips on the racks. “How could they lose to Lion Lickers? They taste horrible and don’t even look like lions.” Lars just shrugs. “How am I supposed to know why they couldn’t compete, can’t you just make some with you magical chest powers.” You stare longingly at the small product styled freezer that once held the greatest treat to have ever existed. “It doesn’t work like that, well I don’t think it does.” You pull on your collar to look at your gem. It just lays there, taking up space on your chest like Lars’ ear piercings. Sadie decides to come out from behind the counter and walk towards you. “Steven, if you want, you can take the freezer home. It’s not like we’re going to be using it anyway.” You gleefully smile as Sadie unplugs the machine and hands it to you. The cool metal make the hair on your back stand up. “Ooo that’s cold.” You wrap some wire between yourself and the machine to avoid causing freezer burn. “Thank you again Sadie.” Sadie waves you off while Lars continues to do his job. 

The trek back to your beach house is quite a journey. You have to go around the giant statue ridge by walking along the beach, which isn’t easy since you’re carrying both your bike and new mini fridge. It easier to use you bike, but the wheels aren’t equipped for sand. Maybe Zoisite can add all terrain tires to your bike when you get home. Although, you’re not unhappy about having to walk the distance. It’s actually filled with joyful humming from you getting some free Cookie Cat merchandise. You don’t regularly show emotion in front of people, but when you start feeling a pretty strong emotion than all bets are off. You guess that’s another thing you share with your mother. Your dad said that when he first met her, she kept dismissing him until she showed up to meet him at one of his performances. He said that he’ll tell you the whole story when you’re older. Well that was three years ago so it must be coming soon. As you’re about to reach the steps leading to your porch, you see something break through the door screen mesh and become smoke. “Peridot, you ‘Bang’ broke the screen again! I’ll need to fix it ‘Wack’ now instead of getting to work on my ‘Thump’ project!” “It’s not my ‘Cckk’ fault that Garnet threw that ‘Thunk’ centipedel at me! Bee broke the floor ‘Smack’ boards!” “Can the two of ‘Crack’ stop bickering! We ‘Sling’ need to exterminate these ‘Crack’ before Steven gets here.” You take that as your cue to walk in. The house is full of small corruptions that look like centipedes. Pearl hops onto the back of one of the larger versions of the creatures they’ve been fighting and sinks her daggers into its back causing it to poof. A cloud of green smoke is all that’s left of its existence. “There’s no gems, these must be a babies.” Shadow Agate swings her mace on the heads of a few of the smaller centipedes like she’s playing a game of whack a mole. “Their mother must be around her somewhere. We have to find her and bubble her to stop this infestation.” Bee splits one of them in half with axe. She also chops a piece of the floor off. “Oh hi Steven, how was practice today?” Everyone else finally notices you standing at the doorway with the fridge strapped to your back. “I’m home.” Garnet dematerializes one of her gauntlets and adjusts her glasses. “I see. Welcome back, I hope that you don’t mind if we redecorate your room.” Is all Garnet has to say before materializing her left gauntlet again. You can see your room is damaged by split wood, burn marks, and Zoisite slashing the walls in an attempt to get one of the centipedes in the corner of your eye. “I was looking for a reason to tidy up anyway.” Peridot smacks a few of the corruptions off the rafters with her bō staff. “Get off! It took me long enough trying to place the wires in the first place!” She manages to push one of them off with ease. Bee grabs it out of the arm and does braces its spine, wait centipedes are invertebrates so they don’t have backbones. Or do they? Peridot said that corruptions are similar to them during one of your lessons so maybe they do have backbones. That thought gets cut off when you hear Zoisite start screaming as she shapeshifts both of her hands into hammers. Zoisite jumps onto the rafters to poof the remaining corruptions. “Stop destroying my handiwork.” She poof two centipedes and knocks three down for the other crystal gems to handle. “About time those little monsters stopped coming. Now Garnet, could you please catch me?”

Zoisite jumps off from the supporting rafters into Garnet’s waiting arms. Zoisite’s small body lands perfectly onto Garnet. Pearl steps in front of you and examines every detail. She grabs the small freezer so she can continue her search. “It looks like none of the acid landed on you, so you should be fine but are you injured from today’s fighting lessons. How many fingers am I holding?” As much as you enjoy Pearl giving you endless affection, you have to put your foot down so she doesn’t smother you. “I’m fine, we’ll physically I’m the best but emotionally I’m a little broken.” Both Pearl and Bee surround you and look you over. Pearl paces around the living room. “Did you see another clown on your way over here?” Bee grabs your shoulders. “Is one of those kids at that doyo or whatever it’s called bullying you? Do I need to go have a talk with them?” You wiggle out of her iron grasp. “No, nothing like that. It’s just that Cookie Cat has been discontinued indefinitely.” Garnet nods. “That is horrible news. If only there was a way we could remedy it.” Pearl walk to the kitchen fridge and opens the freezer section. “We heard about this happening so we...” Bee interrupts her. “We robbed a bunch of stores and trucks of their entire supply. You would be surprised how many cashiers just let us take the boxes” Pearl lets out a small growl. “We did not rob them! I went back and payed them for the treats before we left.” Peridot and Zoisite walk around the house and survey all the damage. Garnet dematerializes her gauntlets which leaves little stars to fly around. “It was all my idea in the first place.” You grab one of the packets from the front of the freezer. “I’m going savor all of these forever, right after I eat this one.” Before you take a bite of the treat you decide a quick song is in order. “Oohhhhh! He's a frozen treat with an all new taste! Cause he came to this planet from outer space! A refugee of an interstellar war! But now he's at your local grocery store! Cookie Cat! He's a pet for your tummy! Cookie Cat! He's super-duper yummy! Cookie Cat! He left his family behind! Cookie Caaaaat! Now available at Gurgens off Route 109.” All of them clap at your singing of the commercial rap. “Thank you guys.” The crisp chocolate cookie breaks in your mouth. The taste seems long forgotten even the vanilla and strawberry ice cream excites you. “Mmm. I like to eat the first before the face.” A collective gasp is formed by all of them when your gem starts glowing. “What, did you guys want some too?” Peridot points to your chest and says, “Steven! Your gem! It’s glowing!” You look down to see a bright yellow light shining through your yellow shirt. “What’s happening?! Garnet what do I do?!” Bee shouts, “Summon your weapon!” Your whole tenses up as you try to summon your weapon. Zoisite yells, “Don’t poop yourself.” Shadow back her up with, “Yeah, please don’t do that. I still have yet to learn how to remove those kind of stains.” The light from the gem ceases to shine underneath the shirt. Everyone lets out a sigh of relief from the tension that had just taken place. “I’m a failure! How can I be a crystal gem if I can’t summon a weapon?” Pearl rubs your arm in an effort to calm you down. Zoisite walks around every to reach you. “You’re not a failure, you just couldn’t do comes naturally to a gem.” Bee gives Zoisite a nasty glare while making a quiet buzzing sound. Zoisite nervously coughs. “I mean you’re a human, so it be a little harder to do some of the same things we can do on your first try.” You regain a portion of your previous composure as you face the gems. “Can you guys teach me how to summon my weapon like you do?” They all agree on that request.

Pearl has taken you to a small hill in the countryside with a couple of trees that have flower like yellow petals for leaves. “Steven, the best way to summon is weapon is to concentrate on it. You see these petals from the trees around us, well their descent may seem random but it isn’t. In fact, it’s all dependent on the factors that may seem insignificant. The wind, its weight, and even the magic that fills our worlds all play a part in this dance. Once you understand this lesson and you apply hard work than you’ll be able to summon your weapon.” She cups her hands over her round yellow gemstone on her chest. A brief show of light illuminates the shade as she pulls out a blade that she twirls and becomes her dagger. “Easy, right.” Next is Bee’s turns. You grab a few of the yellow petals before you go meet her at the warp pad. She takes you to the Big Donut. “Did you want something before we get started on the lesson?” You decline her offer. She comes out a few minutes later with a donut glazed in what you would assume honey. “Ok I know that Pearl showed you her way with petals and the forces of our world ruling everything, but now it’s my turn. First let your worries drift away. Fear is a stressor that can be troublesome to deal with. Especially when you’re in a battle. Let’s go and you’ll be able to call upon your gem weapon.” Bee shoves the donut in her mouth and touches her yellow and black hexagonal shaped gemstone on her tailbone. She clasps her hands together as the outline of a lumber axe forms. “See much simpler than trying to calculating wind pressure and all that nonsense. Don’t you agree aggie?” You turn around to see Shadow standing behind the store with you and Bee. “Yes, very much so.” She has a bottle of fizzy grape soda from the store in the palm of her right hand. “I’ve come to see what you were saying to Stephen, and its wind direction not wind pressure but I digress.” Shadow rolls her eyes as she says that. “Have you made any progress on projecting your weapon? It’s imperative that you learn this, you never know when a corruption could appear.” She moves her free hand to the white teardrop shaped gemstone on her left thigh and pulls her blunt mace out. It flickers to a lighter shade of her already white skin color. “I order my weapon to project itself, and as you can see.” Bee pulls you back as Shadow hits the nearby dumpster, launching it into a tree a few feet way. “Not again!” Lars turns the corner of the building to see the second dumpster this week hanging on a tree. Bee throws you over her broad shoulders and runs to the cliff side of the town. “I believe its Garnet’s turn now.

You walk into the beach house with in a slightly dejected mood since today was a total bust on learning how to use your gem. You’ve learned nothing except for a bunch of contradictory information that has no use to you. Pearl’s way is way too complicated, Bee’s way isn’t like you, Shadow is near impossible, and Garnet’s method is... Well Garnet is convoluted at best. “Sync yourself with the powers of universe around you, she says, well how does one do that. How about you go win a noble peace prize in philosophy while you’re at it.” You accidentally walk into Peridot as she helps Zoisite get measurements. “Oh, back so soon. Did you finally summon your weapon?” A small growl emanates in your chest as you bury into Peridot. “No!” Peridot takes a deep breath “Bad day?” you nod. She moves her hand to bush the slight mop of hair you have. “Don’t worry about it, summoning your gem weapon takes some practice? Believe it or not, I couldn’t my weapon for the first two thousand years of my existence. Neither could Pearl but that’s not the point right now. You shouldn’t feel discouraged because you can’t do something.” Her fingers start to get tangled in your blonde hair as she continues to comb it. “It looks like you’re going to need a haircut pretty soon. Do you want me to cut it or let Pearl, my little pebble?” It has been awhile since you last got your hair cut by one of the gems. “Hey Perry, Hey! Can you get down?” Zoisite screams. “We still need to order the material for the repairs.” Peridot rolls her eyes and taps her green triangular gemstone on her arm. A light green line pops out of it which forms into her signature bō staff. Zoisite jumps onto it and slides down it like a fireman. “Weeee!” Afterwards she puts all of her hardware tools into her light purple oval shaped gemstone. “So you’re still having trouble getting your gem to work? Ehhh. Have you tried recreating the moment your gem started to glow? Maybe you have to do a whole process in order to summon your weapon.” Your eyes go wide for a split second. “I haven’t tried that yet. Peridot, can you call the...” Before you can finish Zoisite says, “I did that already.” Pearl, Bee, and Shadow burst through the door in a panic. They all say in unison, “STEVEN!” Pearl practically jumps on you. “Oh thank the stars that you’re alright! Zoisite said that you a support beam fell on top of you! We came as fast as we could!” Bee lifts both you and Pearl into a tight hug. “I was so worried about you!” Shadow decides to lecture Zoisite. “Why would you scare us like that, what would happen if Steven had actually gotten hurt!” Garnet walks in holding a small red box. “I remembered that we were running low on medical supplies. Also I’m glad you’re safe, as you can see I’m happy.” Her face isn’t any different than her usual chiseled poker face. No wait, her lip is more spread outward than before. “Can we get back to my idea of trying to recreate the moment Steven’s gem started glowing. It’s not like we have anything to lose trying it.” Garnet and Bee shrug, Shadow thinks it over, and Pearl is slightly skeptical of the plan. “Ok so let’s get into position. Peridot and Zoisite were over here talking about the damage to the house, Shadow was standing over there with her mace on her arm, Garnet you are good, Bee was next to me, and Pearl was beside the fridge. Then I sang the Cookie Cat rap and ate some of it. Let’s begin. Oh Cookie Cat...pet for your tummy...interstellar refugee...yada yada!” The same strawberry vanilla flavor hits your mouth, however nothing happens. Why didn’t it work, you did everything the same? “I’m never going to be a Crystal Gem! I can’t even summon my own weapon!” Pearl bends down to comfort you. “Is that why you have been trying to summon your weapon? You don’t feel like you’re a part of us. Well you’re wrong, you are a crucial part of this team.” Everyone comes up to give you a hug so you feel better. However, Zoisite tries to reassure you with, “Steven, you are not entirely useless. You’re actually fun to be around.” At least she complimented you. “ZOISITE!” Peridot is now staring daggers at Zoisite. Heh this is home sweet home. You lean onto the fridge and eat the rest of your Cookie Cat in relative bliss. “Oh for quartz sake can you naa... STEVEN! YOUR GEM!” You open your eyes to see a blinding yellow light coming out of your chest. Pearl is panicking at the sight of it. “You have your mother’s claymore sword.” Pure unadulterated joy fills you. “Yay, I’m a Crystal Gem like all of you! I can finally go on missions with you guys.” The excitement causes the sword to be launched straight into your T.V. “Let’s get you used to your weapon for now. Then you can come on as many missions as you want.” All of a sudden the house begins to shake. “Screeeee!” Well if this opportunity is just perfect to show how useful you’ll be on the field. “Crystal Gems, outside now!” Everyone except you bolts for the beach to see the giant mother centipede climbing the statue. “Reeee!” Garnet jumps high into the air in order to kick its face. The centipede turns its attention onto the gem and spews out acid at them. They manage to dodge the spray in two as the sand where they were just standing on gets dissolved in an instant. Bee leads them to one of the fallen hands from the statue for cover. The centipede see that it has them cornered so it tries to destroy the hand. You of course take this as your chance to hit it with your newly summoned sword. Equipped with the brand mini fridge and a stack inside you stand your ground “Go go super-secret Cookie Cat weapon technique!” You swallow two of the ice cream sandwiches to call upon your sword. Nothing happens. The centipede turns it giant head and blasts your mini fridge with an acid shot. The shot blows you away and disintegrates the whole fridge. Not a single piece is left. Steven, get out of here! It’s not safe for you!” The hand is almost gone, oh god, your foster moms are almost gone. Something deep inside you snaps. “Nooo!” You pull an unstable version of your sword and throw it at the monster. The blade zaps the creature into a shock. The gems take this as a chance to poof it so they take it. An all-out attack causes it to collapse into its round gemstone and land next to you. “You did it Steven!” Pearl runs up to hug you, but you fall limp in her arms. “Steven!”


	2. Crystal Gem Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated this story after five months. School was very demanding this semester.

The sun sits high is the sky of a quiet beachside town. Everything is just perfect for a nice peaceful day. The breeze and water are cool and smooth enough for everyone to enjoy. Yet, not many are taking part of the lounging or admiration of the natural beauty. A few reasons for this are. It’s currently early spring, so not many tourist are here visiting. And the town is very isolated. It’s smack dab right in the middle of Ocean Town and Empire City. Ocean is an almost desolate place due the high risk of your property burning down overnight, and Empire City is way too busy to calm down once in awhile. Besides this city has something the others don’t, a community. Families have lived here for generations so it’s always relatively calm, except for a small house on the coast. The beachside house is home to a peculiar group of women who have deep roots in the city. The group are the descendants of the first people to settle in the area. They choose to seclude themselves from city affairs, and had for a couple decades. 

That was until recent years. A new member of the family, a boy by the name of Steven Hessonite Universe has been explore the area for himself. He and his father are the connections from the outside world to the group. However the citizens haven’t seen him for the past two days. 

**Steven **

“Haha, oh Dogcopter you’re hilarious!” Who would have guess that The Dogcopter was such a humble actor to have a nice conversation and brunch with one of his fans? To think that you almost believe those fictitious tabloids saying he isn’t. “I’m glad to see I still have a shot in the comedy industry. My mother always said that I could bring a smile to the grumpiest of people, but enough about me. I wanna hear more about you as a Crystal Gem.” He’s says all of this while dipping a rook in his coffee. “Well, I guess I should tell you about me. As you already know, I’m a member of the great and powerful, Crystal Gems. We’re dedicated to protecting the planet earth from all hostile entities.” Dogcopter starts leaning in towards you while eating chess pieces. “Oh, really! How many missions did you go on? Did you fight any strong villains lately? Would you like some white bishops with your hot chocolate?” All these questions are making you a little nervous to say the last. “I aa..I’ve never actually been on a mission before. The gems won’t allow me to join them because I don’t know how to summon my gem weapon. Also because I’m a human.” Dogcopter tilts his head in confusion. “If you don’t join them on missions, then what do you do? Aren’t you the son of the great gem commander Yellow Hessonite?” You are getting more nervous after every question. “Yes, I am her son bu...” He interrupts you. “Shouldn’t you be able to summon your weapon easily?” That last question makes you mad. You slam both your hands on the wooden dining table. “Enough! Yes, my mom is Yellow Hessonite! But that doesn’t mean that I should be a have an easier time doing what the gems can do! Peridot said it would take a while for me to do things since I’m a hybrid! However, I don’t let that stop me now do I. I train for hours each and every day so I can one day join them, so that one day they can see me as an equal. It’s not like you could summon a weapon you slinky reject.” 

You cover your mouth as some tears fall down your cheek. How could you lose control of your emotions in front of him of all people. He probably thinks your some crazed fourteen year old. Letting all your regrets and emotions leaves you vulnerable, yet happy at the same time. “I must give my deepest apologies for upsetting you. It’s clear that you are willing to go to any lengths to prove yourself. You don’t really conform to the standard that are gems. You’re more unique than the others. You are most certainly ready for what’s to come in the near future.” **THUMP THUMP THUMP **The world begins crashing down all around the both of you as that sound intensifies. “Ahh!” You brace yourself for falling sky debris while Dogcopter continues to eat chess piece. “I suggest you open your eyes and don’t feel discouraged if you fail at something. You’re more special than you realize Steven!”

**THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP**  
  
You instantly jerk upwards in a panic from where you were resting.“Thanks Dogcop..oh, it was a dream.” You’ve just had another one of those odd lucid dreams again. What do they mean? All of them are cryptic and full of bizarre messages. Let’s hope that the gems won’t restrict your t.v privileges because of this. You take your time to look around to see where you are. The walls are bare of any personal decorations, the surface that you woke up in isn’t your bed, and there’s a couple of boxes labeled Steven’s old clothes. It’s clear to say that you have woken up in the downstairs guest room/storage, or what’s at least what’s left of it. The walls have multiple scorched acid holes all over from those centipede-like corruptions. At least the gems put up blankets as makeshift walls for the time being. **THUMP THUMP THUMP **Huh, what is that noise? The sound of consistent thumping fills your ears as go to the door on the others side of the room. Upon opening the door, you see the gems in various stages of unease. Pearl is pacing back and forth with a terrified look on her face in the kitchen. Peridot is rereading her book of human anatomy with the upmost concentration. Bee and Shadow are sitting on the couch shaking their feet impatiently with grim looks on their faces. Meanwhile, Garnet and Zoisite are busy trying to repair the damage to house from that corruption attack. At least none of them are acting out of character. You barely take a step out of the doorway when Garnet spots you. “Good morning Steven, I hope you slept well. We were all worried for you.” Garnet’s small greeting gets everybody’s attention. 

Pearl’s head swivels in a inhuman way when she hears that you’re awake. She immediately does an acrobatic flip over the kitchen counter and bolts towards you. “Oh my stars, you’re finally awake! We all thought that you wouldn’t and we waaa!” Large globes of tears stream down Pearl’s pale yellow cheeks. Then Bee walks over and lifts the both of you to make a small group hug. “Hey guys, I’m perfectly okay. I was only taking a short nap, you don’t need to worry about me.” Peridot shakes her head. “Steven, you’ve been unconscious for several days already. Four days to be exact.” Oh. No wonder they were all anxious when you opened the door. “I’m sorry for worrying you guys so much. I guess I’m not meant to be a Crystal Gem if I can barely summon my sword.” Now you are crying, but their minuscule compared to Pearl. “Don’t belittle yourself like that.” You lift your head to see Shadow standing next to Garnet. “Remember you successfully summoned your gem weapon on your second attempt. All you require is training and then you might be able to summon it without any serious repercussions on your physical health.” She brushes your hair with fingers as she speaks. “Yeah man. All you need to do is train than you’ll be a badass like yellow!” Shouts Zoisite while jumping up and down in the corner. Pearl and Shadow get ticked off at Zoisite for that. “ZOISITE! DON’T CURSE IN FRONT OF STEVEN/STEPHAN!” Bee begins to laugh hysterically at the exchange. “Ahh, oh my sides.” She immediately drops both you and Pearl on the floor so she can hold herself. You take the time to take a look of your current appearance. It turns out the gems had changed your clothes since that day, but unfortunately you’re drenched in sweat from that odd lucid dream earlier.

A shower right now sounds like a perfect idea. You pick yourself up and head to your room to grab a change of clothes. Since it’s a mundane task, you switch to autopilot so you don’t hear Garnet yell “Don’t walk over there!” The floor collapses underneath your weight in seconds. You close your eyes and tighten your fists as fear and adrenaline actives your self-perseverance. Something fills your hands and you stop falling. The gems run to try and help but gasp as the look down. You open your eyes and see that there’s a giant yellow sword imbedded in a support column. “**Steven are you okay!**” You don’t know how to answer the question. Are you fine? “I don’t know? Can you guys help me?” Zoisite throws her outstretched arms at you to try and lift you. Bee helps out by holding onto Zoisite. “Thanks!”

**Two hour time skip **

You finish washing yourself in the shower, so you quickly dry yourself and throw some clothes on for the day. The other went on with day after they examined you all over for any problems from your short coma. Afterwards they gave you some clothes and congratulated you for summoning your sword during your fall. Peridot says that your fight-or-flight response caused you to summon your sword in order to save yourself. However, you still can’t use your powers freely. Why does must everything be this way. You open the bathroom door to see Pearl in the kitchen cooking breakfast..lunch..brunch? Well whatever it is, she’s making something for you, Jasper, and Zoisite. Peridot, Garnet, and Shadow are zoning parts of the house off until they can repair it. You walk up to the kitchen’s bar counter to eat. Pearl places three plates of omelettes on the counter before she grabs her drink. “How was your shower Steven?” Although she may not partake in eating portion, she still tries to be a part of the activity. “It was good. Really helped some sore spots I had. Thank you for making me breakfast.” “Yah, thanks Pearl.” Says Zoisite as she scarfs down the omelette and runs off to join the others. “Whelp, I’m gonna go help the others and then do some training later.” Is all Bee says as she puts her dish in the sink. You decide this is the best time to ask them if they can teach you how fight like them. “Can you let me train with you guys?” They all look up from what they were doing to give you looks of hesitation. “Please! I want to be like you guys. I want to protect the earth from corruptions too! I’m strong enough to endure anything you throw at me.” You stand up in your chair to enthuse your point. “Steven, you’re not ready to join us. Even if you were, your mother didn’t want you to dedicate your life to this.” Responds Pearl. Zoisite doesn’t agree though. “Yellow didn’t want Steven to be forced into joining us. She wasn’t against him joining on his own.” Bee joins in with “I get that she wanted us to protect him, but it’s only training. He could learn how to defend himself in case we aren’t there.“ Pearl stops washing the dishes to glare at Zoisite. “If we let Steven train with us then we’ll begin to let him join us on missions. Missions that are tough even for us, we have years of experience doing this so he will be outmatched.” She lets out a loud sigh. 

“I just don’t want Steven getting hurt. Don’t you agree with me Garnet.” Garnet crosses her arms and look at Pearl with her calm and collected face. “Steven would get hurt if he went on missions with us, but I do agree with Bee. We should train him in the off chance that he runs into a corruption while we’re unavailable.” Pearl sighs again and resumes washing the dishes. “You’re right. I just wanted to keep my baby young for a little bit longer.” Shadow walks over to you and puts he hand on your shoulder. “Stephan, get a good night’s sleep. We shall begin your training in two days.” You raise an eyebrow at that. “Why in two days? Can’t we start today?” Shadow shakes her head. “Not today. We have a great deal of work to complete on the repairs. We wouldn’t want to have another accident, now would we.” Oh.

**Two** **day** **time skip**  
  
You wake up early to get ahead of your morning exercises. Some push-ups, sit-ups, and a short jog along the beach is good enough for today. You still have to maintain a consistent exercise regiment for your MMA classes. You get into position and do the first two activities. It doesn’t take to long since you’ve been doing this for a while. Then you change into a faded yellow band shirt from your dad and bright neon yellow track pants. The gems are still in their rooms so you should be back on time for your training session. The clock next to your bed says 5a.m so you’ve got time. You start with a quick run while making sure to pace yourself. That’s what you’re dad taught you. Wait! When was the last time you saw your dad. It’s been like two weeks already since you visited him. Well you guess that you could run to show him that you’re okay. The gems did say that he came over while you were unconscious. Yeah, you definitely have to go visit him today. The journey to his house isn’t to long since his house is fairly close to the beach. You get to the front door of his house when you turn your head to the driveway. There sits the old family van, in front of the attached garage, immaculate as ever. 

Enough stalling. You ring the door and wait for only three seconds before he opens up. “Ok, how much for a couple boxes of Samoas..oh Steven. STEVEN!” Your dad grabs you and pulls you into a tight fatherly embrace. Despite having a rounded figure, he can still go on par with a bodybuilder. “Hi dad. I missed you too.” The both of you stay like that for a few minutes. “Ok ok enough hugging each other. I just wanted to pay a little visit before I have to get ready for my training. So you can let go now.” His face shifts into a sly smirk. “Oh, but what if I don’t want to let go. What are you going to do than?” Oh gemity, he has you in a bind now. “Haha, I’m only pulling your leg Schtu-ball. Your so much like your mother. How have you been?” You adjust your shirt and hair for a second. “I’ve been good, my MMA instructor says that I can make it to regionals in a few months. Also the gems said that they’re going to train me on how to fight corruptions.” He chuckles and ruffles your hair. “I know, Garnet told me earlier when Zoisite called to tell me you woke up. I would have gone seen you, but Garnet said if I went I would ended up funding Zoisite’s next project.” You both share a laugh at that. “Well I gotta get going if I wanna get trained” He smiles as he waves you off but you can see the parental worry in his eyes.“Come again whenever you want to talk or if you want to stay over.” You should spend sometime with him later to ease some of the stress. Maybe a musical jam session with some pepperoni pizza from Fish Stew Pizza. You make your way back to the beach house in a paced jog.

Upon rounding the corner of the ridge you encounter Bee shoving a wooden beam in the sand while Zoisite is carving another beam in the ground. “Hey Steven, come look at this!” You go over to where Zoisite is beckoning you. She does one final cut on the beam to become a sculpture of what the centipede corruption looked like. “Cool, right?” You nod. “Real cool, but why did you made a wooden sculpture of a corruption? Aren’t we sparing or are we going to do field drills?” Bee puts here hands up. “Woah there hotshot, you need to get used to handling a weapon before we can think about anything like that.” Oh are going to be swing a model sword around for some time. “Here’s a stick for you to practice with. Now start whacking this unaltered wooden beam until you’re used to using it. Then you can move onto the replica and attack it.” And so you do exactly that for a couple of hours. However, you’re using a wooden stick so of course it broke after awhile of you constantly banging it again a thick wooden beam, so you try using the pieces to hit the beams. Pearl takes notice after she finishes her chores. “Steven, I’m proud that you’re taking this seriously but let’s try something more practical.”

Pearl’s pearl starts shining as she pulls out two swords. One is a steel saber with a squared bronze hand-guard that has two brown stripes on the front and leather handgrip. The other is a steel cutlass with a silver dome hand-guard and leather grip. She hands you the cutlass and keeps the saber. “I’ll teach you how to handle a sword since you’ll no doubt be needing it. First, everything starts your stance, you mustn’t leave yourself defenseless nor limit your offense capabilities.” You copy Pearl’s pose. “Keep your stance wide and lowered, you must be prepared to move around. Compact your self for quick movement and readiness.” You position yourself like Pearl says. It’s almost like MMA, except you have a real sword and you aren’t using other body parts. “Balance is the key, make sure no attack leaves you vulnerable to another. Now follow my steps, left foot, right foot, now go even faster.” You follow Pearl’s instructions which causes you to move backwards. “As you move backwards keep your eyes on me. Don’t let your enemies see that you’re not paying attention. If they do then they go for the opportunity and strike you.” You keep your eyes glued on Pearl and her movements. “Good, now it’s time to put you to the test. Let us see where you stand as of now.” Pearl does a ballet twirl as her gem glows again but this time the light creates a hologram version of herself.

”This beauty right here is a holographic light assistant. She’ll help you train your swordsmanship.” Oh a Holo-Pearl. “Now before you begin, let me show you a demonstration of a fight.” Pearl pulls another saber out of her gems and tosses it to the Holo-Pearl. “**Do you wish to engage in combat?!**” Pearl makes an affirmative noise and the battle starts. “**You have made a mistake challenging me! Commencing duel!**” The Holo-Pearl’s eyes change color, instead of the bright white it’s now a bright red as she jumps towards Pearl with the sword pointed at her. Pearl blocks the attack and says, “We’ll let our swords decide that.” Pearl and Holo-Pearl engage in a battle of defense as they both try to strike each other. They continue this for a few minutes. “**Defense rank S! No openings detected!**” Shouts Holo-Pearl. “Go Pearl, you can do it.” Is what you and Bee say. Zoisite chooses to cheer on Holo-Pearl. Pearl gets distracted by this, so Holo-Pearl takes the opportunity to knock her sword away. “**Opening detected!**” Pearl scowls at Zoisite. Holo-Pearl goes for the finishing move, but Pearl skillfully slides past the swing and grabs her fallen sword. Holo-Pearl jumps into the air in an attempt to land an aerial attack. Pearl swings her sword at the hologram which leaves it disoriented and defenseless. She thrusts her sword into the hologram, defeating it, thus ending the battle. “**Challenger Wins!**” Everyone claps as Pearl takes a bow. “It’s your turn now Steven.”

You walk up to where Pearl and Holo-Pearl are at. “I’m going to set the Hologram Assistant for training mode. All you have to do is block her various attacks and strike when you see an opening. Pretty basic stuff. Ahem, initiate training mode.” Holo-Pearl shoots back up after Pearl gives it the order. “**Training mode initiated, Level One begin! Prepare for Battle!**” You get into your stance and as Holo-Pearl said “Prepare for battle.” Holo-Pearl swings her sword next to yours as she yells out her attacks. “**Parry, parry, thrust!**” You listen to what Holo-Pearl shouts and counter it. It’s quite easy since you know what she’s going to do but she changes the direction of her attacks. You can’t afford to zone out in this battle. “**Parry, parry, thrust!**” This continues until you feel comfortable with your defensive capabilities. The gems are gives you encouragement from the sidelines. “You’re doing great Steven, keep up the good work. Make sure you strike her with your blade to end the fight, but only when your ready. Show that hologram who’s boss!” You decide that it’s time to finish this, you wait until Holo-Pearl goes for a parry and stab her. “**Challenger Wins, Level One completed! Permission to initiate Level Two!**”

You to Pearl for permission. She gives you an affirmative nod. “Initiate Level Two.” Holo-Pearl shoots back up and responds. “**Training mode initiated, Level Two initiated! Begin!**” You get into position and wait for Holo-Pearl to attack. However, that attack never comes. She just stands there starring at you with those bright red eyes of hers. “Steven, you’re on the offensive this time!” Oh. Oh! She waiting for to attack first. Well you’re not one to disappoint so you try to slash at her. She of course parries your strike like it’s nothing. Maybe a barrage of attacks will work, just like Pearl’s earlier demonstration. That works because you manage to land a slash on her torso. “**Challenger Wins, Level Two completed! Permission to initiate Level Three!**”

You choose to continue. “Initiate Level Three.” Holo-Pearl repeats her start up process again. “**Training mode initiated, Level Three initiated! Begin!**” Holo-Pearl launches herself at you with her sword at the ready. You follow all of the instructions Pearl told you before about sword fighting. You keep your body low and spread your legs for quick movement. This level is the combination of the first two levels of defense and offense, but this time around the hologram moves around. She’s no longer standing still.

**Time skip **

You’re quickly getting tired of fighting Holo-Pearl, you’ve been training for a while already. The gems are still standing off to the side observing you fight Pearl’s hologram assistant. Well some of them are observing you. Zoisite is sitting on a lawn chair with a bag of popcorn in her hands. They can already tell how tired you are from how sluggish your attacks are becoming. The sword may be light but you still have a limit. “**Prepare for defeat!**” Holo-Pearl raises her sword for a downward slash. If you stay were you are, you’ll no doubt get split in half. Lucky for you, taking martial arts since the age of seven gave you an idea on how to win. You wait for her to leave her lower body unguarded, so you can kick her legs from underneath her. This causes her to fall over, and you take the opportunity to bring your sword down on her. “**Challenger Wins, Level Three completed! Training mode completed!**”

Finally. Holo-Pearl disappears in the same flash of light as she came in. Your lack of rest catches up to you as you fall onto the sand. Tired, sore, and dreaded in sweat from extensive training. The gems slowly surround your aching body to congratulate you. Pearl squats down and squeals. “Steven you were amazing! You successful passed your beginner’s level sword training! Now you can do the intermediate level training!” “Pearl, let Stephan have a break before you go about starting another lesson.” Says Shadow like a mother scolding a child. “Yeah Pearl. Let’s instead throw a small celebration for Steven.” Everyone stares at her in confusion. “You know, for being mission ready. Oh Steven, think about it, you can finally join us for missions to save the earth!” Zoisite says all this with stars in her eyes. “I vote yes to a party, but I’m going to the Big Donut for a bottle of pineapple fizzy pop.” You pick yourself up from the sandy shoreline and dust yourself off. The journey around the cliff ridge takes longer than expected as your muscles hurt when you move around to much. You grab what you came for quickly so you can return home to celebrate you being mission ready. But you bump into someone you’ve never seen before. “Hi, name is Vanessa Wilson, I’m new here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Comments are very much appreciated. I like to read what you have to say about my works.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments are very much appreciated. I like to read what you have to say about my works.


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